Fastening device for the content of portfolios

ABSTRACT

This invention refers to articles for the preservation of documents, of the type of portfolios, portfolios of rings or fastening portfolios or similar, that have lapels or pockets in one or both of their internal surfaces and in which a device or fastening element maintains in its place and protected the documents in its interior.

This application is continuation application of co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/515,971, filed Aug. 5, 2005.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention is related with articles for the preservation ofdocuments, of the type of portfolios and ringed portfolios or fasteningportfolios or similar, in which a device or element for subjectionmaintains in their place and protect the documents in its interior.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Articles for preservation of groups of loose leaves or files, such asbriefcases and portfolios are thoroughly well-known for public ingeneral, and they are made in a wide variety of forms and materials suchas paper (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,584 (Wyant, 1990), and U.S. Pat. No.3,516,599 (Buttery, 1970)), plastic (we mention U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,143(Ong, 1999), U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,052 (Casper, 1991), U.S. Pat. No.5,752,721 (Balbas, 1998) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,509 (Schwartz, 1995)),the employment of vinyl is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,513 (Ong,1999) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,349 (Pitts, 1986); articles made ofpolyethylene, polypropylene and PVC are illustrated in the U.S. Pat. No.5,275,438 (Struhl, 1994), U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,417 (Bromer, 1995) andU.S. Pat. No. 5,266,140 (Kohno, 1993).

Most frequently used articles are constituted by a front cover and aback cover and, in the case of the so called “portfolios” a dorsalribbon or “loin” between both covers, with which forms a “hinge” inorder to open and close them and so permitting the insertion orretirement of the documents.

Conventionally front and back covers are made of plane wide panels withlightly larger dimension to those of the standard paper sizes used inthe offices and home, for example letter, legal, A4, etc.; the dorsalribbon usually is narrower by much and it is in function of thethickness associated with the amount of leaves that is destined to thearticle; in the case of the folders destined to conserve groups ofrelatively few leaves in their interior, normally this ribbon or loindoes not exist.

In the articles of the prior art, diverse alternatives in order toprovide security in the integrity of the documents have been proposed.These range from the employment of mechanical elements of subjectionsuch as hoops, rings, fastenings and staples, where the material to holdshould be perforated in corresponding places to positions predeterminedby the own device from subjection, or, pressure fastenings, paper clipsor other prehensile elements, preset preferably to the back panel of thefolder, briefcases or portfolio.

In a different way of the first, pressure fastenings significantlyreduce damage to the material to preserve, although they use to leavemarks in the points of contact with this.

Another solution has been the incorporation of additional panels subjectto the interior surfaces of one or both panels of the folder, thebriefcase or portfolio, forming supports either in form of “lapel” or“pocket,” where the material is introduced to preserving.

The pockets, especially, could reach diverse heights in connection withthe panel to which they are fixed, as described in the U.S. Pat. No.5,059,052 (Casper, 1991), U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,721 (Balbas, 1998), U.S.Pat. No. 6,193,147 (Schluger, 2001) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,112 (Pettey,2001).

In a simpler version of the concept of “lapels”, these are simplecontinuations of one or more ends of the panels that form the body ofthe folder, briefcase or portfolio, as illustrated in the U.S. Pat. No.6,244,627 (Wolf, 2001) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,752 (Heyer, 2001).

It is important to notice that in all the cases referred above, theinferior edge and at least one of the two adjacent corners of thepreserved document, are protected of the mistreatment by the “lapel” or“pocket” itself; however, the upper edge and the adjacent cornersnormally are free and they are subject to mistreatments by just openingand closing the panels of the folder, briefcase or portfolio, if it isnot taken care to arrange by hand the leaves or the file upon closingthe panels.

A pair of alternatives that attract attention for trying to overcome theproblem, are represented by the inventions described in the U.S. Pat.Nos. 4,629,349 and 6,286,752. The first, offers a portfolio of ringswith pockets joined with the internal surfaces of the panels, eachpocket has a lapel that assures the documents preserved by means of apressure fastening; the material (flexible and transparent) thatconforms the pocket as such, is joined to the internal surfaces of theportfolio by means of thermo-sealing. In the second patent, U.S. Pat.No. 6,286,752, “tongues” are offered in order to support the material topreserving, being these, simple projections of the shortest sides (upperand inferior) of one of the panels of the folder, that upon bendingtoward the interior of such folder, allow to restrict in a certaingrade, the movement of the material in its interior.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION

In order to overcome the difficulties found in the prior art, it is anobject of this invention to offer an stationery article for thepreservation of documents, of the type of portfolios, portfolios ofrings or fastening portfolios or similar articles, that assure theintegrity of the documents in its interior against mechanicalmistreatment produced by the action of the covers or panels of thearticle itself.

It is another object of this invention that the assurance of thephysical integrity of the documents is achieved in an economical andeffective way for the addition of a device or element disposed for suchobjective, to a stationery article as briefcases or portfolios of ringsor fastening portfolios, by using any of the well-known techniques inthe art.

It is still another object of this invention, providing a stationeryarticle in which mentioned device or fastening element does notinterfere the view of the cover of the preserved documents, by beingtransparent or translucent.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a stationeryarticle for the preservation of documents, in which the device orfastening element of the documents could bend without impede the use ofthe article as a briefcase or conventional portfolio, it is to say, itdoes not obstruct upon inserting the documentation in the article.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

This invention will be understood better, from the detailed descriptionthat follows and from the accompanying drawings, which however, shouldnot be taken as limits of the invention but as illustrative for itsbetter understanding.

FIG. 1 is a view in simple perspective of an article of conventionalstationery of the well-known type as portfolio, in their open position,showing conventional supporting elements of the “lapel” type.

FIG. 2 is a view in perspective of the article of the FIG. 1, showingthe way in which documents are inserted in the elements of support.

FIG. 3 is a view in perspective of the article of the FIG. 1, showinghow the documents can suffer damages for the normal use of the article.

FIG. 4 is a view in perspective of a conventional article of stationerylike that of the FIG. 1, to which the device or fastening element of theinvention have been added, being shown here in its position of not-use.

FIG. 5 is a view in detail of an stationery article like that of theFIG. 4, showing the way in which the device or fastening element of theinvention is carried to their position of use when the article getsready in order to insert any document or group of documents for theirpreservation.

FIG. 6 is a view in perspective of a conventional article of stationerylike that of the FIG. 5, showing the device or fastening element of theinvention in their position of use.

FIG. 7 is a view in perspective of a conventional article of stationerylike that of the FIG. 5, showing the device or fastening element of theinvention in their position of use, in an alternative modality ofgeometric configuration of the element of subjection.

FIG. 8 is a view in perspective of a conventional article of stationery,showing the device or fastening element of the invention in theirposition of use, being said fastening element of a essentially lesserlongitude that the edge, in an alternative embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a view in perspective of a conventional article of stationery,showing another embodiment of the device or fastening element of theinvention in their position of use, being conformed by at least twoindividual pieces.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Next the stationery article for the preservation of documents isdescribed, including the device or fastening element that is the subjectmatter of this invention.

In a conventional portfolio of the prior art, such as that shown in theFIG. 1 and designated with number (1), there are, in the front (2) andback (3) panels, elements of the type of “lapels” (4) stuck to one orboth internal surfaces of the panels (2) and (3), being bonded typicallyfor some of the well-known processes in the art, such as weld byultraviolet radiation, ultrasound, glued, bounding, thermo-sealed, sewn,etc.; the area of union between the lapel (4) and the interior surfaceof the panels (2) and (3) is normally reduced to a narrow stripe locatedalong the inferior edge of the panels and the corresponding part next tothe end for which the portfolio is open, forming a kind of “pocket” orsupport in order to maintain the inferior end of one or several pages ofa document (5) to be preserved inside the article (1) as it isillustrated in FIG. 2.

It should be noticed that the upper end of the document normally hasfree movement toward front and back, as indicated by the double-headedarrow, with regard to the panel (2) or (3) in whose lapel (4) is beeninserted; this movement is used to be restricted by the sole employmentof means of mechanical subjection applied directly to the document, thisis, additions like staples, paperclips or fastenings, that maintain thegroup of pages in a certain extension, however they do not protect inany way the edges and corners of the documents at the top.

When, as shown in the FIG. 3, panels close one on another, pointing outthis action by the arrow in the inferior part of the illustratedportfolio, it is possible that the edges or corners of the documents inthe interior of the portfolio could move enough toward the front inorder to remain pressed between the panels of the portfolio, suffering awrinkle or bend, tarnishing the document. The above-mentioned isindicated for the curved arrow and the indication of bending in theupper-right corner of the document (5) shown in the FIG. 3.

In order to avoid that upper edges of the documents, as well as thecorners of the same, bend toward the front because the free movementthat they provide, there is been provided, in the preferred embodimentof this invention, a device or fastening element like that shown in theFIG. 4 with the number (6), consistent of a ribbon of flexible orsemi-flexible material, of transparent, semi-transparent, translucent orcolored plastic, preferably transparent, material.

The form of the element (6), in the preferred embodiment of theinvention, is essentially trapezoidal having the larger base of measureequals or lightly lesser to the interior measure of the panel (2) or (3)taken along the upper edge, opposite to the localization of the lapel orpocket of support, and it is anchored to said upper edge of the interiorsurface of the panel (2) or (3) having the lapel or pocket of the priorart in its lowest part; the anchored is carried out by means of anywell-known technique in the art, as weld by ultraviolet radiation,ultrasound, bond, thermo-sealed, sewn, etc., in function of the type ofmaterial that conforms the body of the panels of the article for thepreservation of documents, either a portfolio, portfolio of rings, offastening portfolio or similar, as long as the type of material selectedfor the fastening element that is the subject matter of this invention,looking after that both materials are compatible in order to assuring afixation of the fastening element to the article under question.

The minor base of the trapeze goes toward the center of the panel, andit has the adjacent corners rounded with the purpose of avoiding any ripor scratch to the material that will be preserved in the folder orportfolio.

The union area between the fastening element (6) matter of the inventionand the interior surface of the panel of the portfolio is located both,in the most external part of the surface of the fastening element (6)and that of the panel (2) or (3), being limited approximately for theA-A line as shown in FIG. 5. The higher or lower rigidity of theselected material to produce the element of fixation (6), permits thatthis element keeps always in contact with the interior surface of thepanel to that it is united, permitting that in its position of not-use,shown in the FIG. 4 previously described, the device or fasteningelement (6) do not interfere with the documents or documents that willbe inserted in the portfolio, achieving in this way that this portfoliocould be used in the conventional way, if so the user wants.

Considering again the FIG. 5, the fastening element (6) of the inventionbecomes operative when, once the document or documents to preserve havebeen inserted in the lapel or pocket referred as (4) in the previousFigures; the inferior edge of the fastening element (6), this is, theminor base of the trapeze is bended upward in the opposed direction tothe interior surface of the panel, as shown in FIG. 5 by the arrows,permitting the insertion of the upper edge of the document or documents(5) underneath the fastening element (6), and between this and theinterior surface of the panel (2) or (3) of the folder or portfolio.

Upon release the fastening element (6), this recovers its normalposition, and due to its relative rigidity and to the location of thearea of union with the interior surface of the panel (2) or (3) of theportfolio, said element (6) exercises a pressure against the documenttoward the internal surface of the panel (2) or (3) of the portfolio,trapping so the upper edge of said document (5) in the form that isillustrated in the FIG. 6, obtaining by this to reduce substantially thecapacity of movement of the front pages and avoiding the possibility offolding of the same upon opening the article in question.

As it have been mentioned above, if the material selected in order toelaborate the device or fastening element (6) matter of this inventionis transparent, then said element (6) will not interfere with thepossibility of viewing the content from the front page of the document(5) preserved, although this possibility is not restrictive of theinvention every time the dimensions of the element are substantiallylesser with regard to the area that is able to being covered by thematerial of the inferior support (lapel or pocket).

Finally, it is clear that application of the fastening element matter ofthis invention could be made, in the way it has been described, in oneor both interior surfaces of the panels that constitute the body of thearticle of office for the preservation of documents, either this is aportfolio, with rings or hoops, of fastenings or similar, by virtue ofthat the mentioned fastening element does not interfere with the normaloperation of any of the articles to which it could be added.

In another embodiment of this invention, illustrated in FIG. 7, thefastening element (6) could have a rectangular form, instead oftrapezoidal, maintaining the characteristic of having the cornersadjacent to the inferior edge, rounded, in order to avoid ripping of thedocuments contained in the portfolio. The numbers have the same meaningthat in FIG. 6.

In still another modality of this invention, illustrated in FIG. 8, thefastening element (6) could have a longitude substantially lesser tothat of the width of the panel of the portfolio to which it is adheredalong one of their edges, maintaining their action of subjection of thedocument between the panel and the element, as well as the protection tothe edge of the document on which it is in its position of use; theprotection to the edge of the document is restricted in fact to the zoneof the upper edge of the same in function of the position in which theelement (6) is anchored to the panel of the portfolio; it is possible toprotect any of the corners of the document if the fastening element (6)is anchored to the panel in a proximal way to the selected corner; inanother case, the fastening element could be located centered withreference to the panel.

Another modality of the invention, illustrated in FIG. 9, suggest theuse of a fastening element (6) divided in two or more sections in theirlongitude, offering flexibility to the respective panel of theportfolio, maintaining the characteristics of protection to the upperedge of the document and of their corners. In function of the longitudeand form selected for each one of the elements of subjection (6), it ispossible a saving of material with practically the same functionality.

1. A stationery article for the preservation of documents, conformed by:a) A body for the contention of the documents, such as, but not limitedto, a portfolio of rings or fastening portfolio or similar, b) A sheetof flexible material subject to, at least, the inferior and externaledges of the interior surface of at least one of the panels that conformthe body from the article, forming a pocket for the placement in itsinterior of the documents to be preserved, characterized because to suchan article, a fastening element has been added, of the type of a tongueor flange joined to the body of the article along the upper edgeopposite to that in which it is the sheet that conforms the pocket, withthe purpose of fasten and at the same time protect, the upper edges andthe corners of the document placed in the pocket with purposes ofpreservation.
 2. The stationery article in accordance with claim 1,characterized because said fastening element is a ribbon of flexible orsemi-flexible material preferably, but not restricted to, plastictransparent or translucent material.
 3. The stationery article accordingto claim 2, characterized because the fastening element has atrapezoidal geometric configuration, with the larger base joinedcorrelative to the upper edge of the internal surface of the article inthat it is located the pocket for supporting documents, and with theminor base directed toward the center of said internal surface; thecorners adjacent to the minor base, being rounded in order to avoid ripsor wrinkles of the document or documents inserted in the article.
 4. Thestationery article according to claim 2, characterized because thefastening element has a rectangular geometric configuration, with one oftheir bases of larger longitude joined correlative to the upper edge ofthe internal surface of the article in which it is located the pocketfor supporting documents, and with the other base of larger longitudedirected toward the center of said internal surface; the adjacentcorners to the inferior base, being rounded in order to avoid rips orwrinkles of the document or documents that are inserted in the article.5. The stationery article according to claim 2, characterized becausethe fastening element is joined with the upper edge of the internalsurface of the article, by any of the well-known techniques in the art,so that the interior surface of the element is completely in contactwith the internal surface to which it is united, showing resistance tothe separation of the same and so offering an effect of clip.
 6. Thestationery article according to claim 5, characterized because saidfastening element, in its normal position, do not impede the use of thearticle in the conventional way.
 7. The stationery article according toclaim 5, characterized because said fastening element, in its positionof use, oppress the document or documents that are inserted between itand the internal surface of the article to which it is united, againstthe last one, preventing the movement of the document toward front andback and avoiding that said document could be mistreated upon closingthe stationery article, or that the document gets out from the articleupon transporting in a normal use.
 8. The stationery article accordingto claim 1, characterized because the fastening element could be locatedon one or both internal surfaces of the stationery article in acoordinate way to the presence or not of the inferior element of supportthat conforms the pocket for supporting documents.
 9. The stationeryarticle according to claim 1, characterized because the fasteningelement could be conformed by two or more individual elements that couldbe located on one or both internal surfaces of the stationery article ina coordinate way to the presence or not of the inferior element ofsupport that conforms the pocket for supporting documents.